An Analysis Of “Blinded By Might: Can The Religious Right Save America”, Part 1
One of the inevitable lessons of history is that political plans and agendas are seldom implemented as initially conceived irrespective of the nobility of intention or even piety motivating such aspirations. Evangelical conservatism, also commonly referred to as “The Religious Right”, would prove to be no different. In Blinded By Might: Can The Religious Right Save America, columnist Cal Thomas and pastor Ed Dobson examine what they believe to be the reasons resulting in the disparities between theory and practice in regards to this particular socio-political movement.
One would be hard-pressed to find thinkers more qualified to write a critique of political Evangelical conservatism than either Cal Thomas or Ed Dobson. Thomas came to be part of the Religious Right circuitously through his lifelong career in journalism. Thomas briefly conveys in Blinded By Might how after being fired from NBC news that he made a more explicit profession of faith in Christ and commitment to Bible study (12). In that phase of his life, Thomas considered himself a supporter of Jimmy Carter, having voted for the governor of Georgia as president on the basis of Carter's record as a sincere churchgoer and endearingly refreshing sense of integrity.
Yet as the Carter administration progressed, a trained observer of public events such as Thomas could not help but notice the dichotomy between the policies actually implemented and the convictions Thomas believed were expressed in Scripture particularly in regards to the issue of abortion. It was around this time that Thomas made the acquaintance of the Rev. Jerry Falwell at an event Thomas was covering in his capacity as a journalist at which Falwell spoke. Given the congruence of their thinking, Falwell contacted Thomas thereafter to offer Thomas a position as the vice president for communications for an organization that would come to be known as the Moral Majority.
If Cal Thomas granted the Moral Majority a degree of journalistic respectability and media professionalism, Ed Dobson brings to this analysis the perspective of a minister that served as part of Falwell's inner circle as the pastor's personal assistant. It was, in fact, Dobson along with Liberty Baptist College professor Ed Hindson that essentially ghostwrote Falwell's book that set down as a manifesto what would become the agenda of Moral Majority. In his role as Falwell's assistant, Dobson points out that he was not so much involved with the day to day operations of Moral Majority but rather sat on the organization's governing board and often represented Falwell in numerous media interviews when the pastor himself was not available.
Dobson admits that at the time he not only found the confrontation in forums such as “The Phil Donahue Show” invigorating but also the sincere work of the Lord. However, it was while waiting for a flight at the airport in Charlotte, North Carolina that Dobson began to question whether he had comprised the best to settle for the good ironically enough when he crossed paths there with fellow Falwell confidant Harold Wilmington. After the two exchanged pleasantries with Dobson going into enthusiastic detail about the Donahue debate regarding the expulsion of an atheist member from the Boy Scouts, Wilmington observed that his colleague might be casting his pearls before swine. By that, the theologian suggested that a pastor might actually be squandering his time and efforts in attempting to advocate for truth in a hostile arena never intending to embrace such rather than in a traditional teaching context where a careful exposition might find a more receptive audience (18-19). After nearly a year of reflection and prayer, Dobson accepted a call to the pastorate of Calvary Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It seemed Dobson got out when the getting was good as Dobson recalls that the day that his new church voted to install him was the day Falwell took over as the head of PTL following Jim Bakker's adultery scandal.
It was in reflecting on this considerable expenditure of resources in terms of both time and finances with little actual cultural change that both Thomas and Dobson were forced to ask what was the point. In the chapter titled, “What Did We Really Win?”, Thomas writes, “...very little we set out to do has gotten done. In fact, the moral landscape of America has gotten worse (23).” As evidence for his claims, Thomas references statistics regarding the sorts of issues Moral Majority must be commended for taking a principled stand pertaining to such as abortion and media decency.
For example, in 1973, 63% of those polled agreed that it is against the will of God to destroy human life including that of the unborn. Yet 68% of those polled also agreed with the statement that, so long as a doctor was consulted, the decision should remain that of the woman in question. As of the publication of Blinded By Might in 1999, opinions remained relatively unchanged during that two decade span in which the Religious Right in the form of the Moral Majority and its successor the Christian Coalition was at the peak of its influence.
In regards to the homosexual agenda, Thomas admits that in 1997 Congress did enact the Defense of Marriage Act which defined state-recognized matrimony as between a man and a woman; but the columnist points out that states such as New Jersey were beginning to allow homosexual adoption. And flash forward to the writing of this analysis in 2021, gay marriage stands triumphant, recognized in all fifty states. Prominent political dynasties of both parties such as the Obama's, the Bush's and the Cheney's once extolling the Defense Of Marriage Act as a reasonable bulwark upholding the wisdom of several thousand years of human tradition now insist that they never really supported the legislation and those continuing to hold that once professed by the stalwarts of the establishment the deviants an affront to all human decency.
To understand how a movement so-well intended in terms of wanting to see righteousness upheld throughout the land stalled at best or lost its way at worst, it might be prudent to examine the background of the Moral Majority and what it was exactly that the organization stood for. Ed Dobson attempts to undertake such a task in the chapter titled “The Vast Right-Wing Conspiracy”, a reference to a remark made by Hillary Clinton (at the time First Lady) describing the network of conservative operatives among whom Jerry Falwell ranked prominently that organized to oppose the profound shortcomings of her husband's presidential administration such as the Monica Lewinsky scandal. Though the Religious Right as embodied by Moral Majority would come to represent a spectrum of conservative theological traditions such as Pentecostals, Charismatics, and even a smattering of Roman Catholics as well, its most direct lineage was probably most accurately traced through the Fundamentalist movement of the early twentieth century.
Frederick Meekins is an independent theologian and social critic. Frederick holds a BS in Political Science/History, a MA in Apologetics/Christian Philosophy from Trinity Theological Seminary, and a PhD. in Christian Apologetics from Newburgh Theological Seminary.
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